LISTEN ON ITUNES
Zara is joined by Sacred Footsteps’ writers and photographers Ali and Omar Rais, and Chirag Wakaskar, a photographer based in Mumbai, India and creator of the @everydaymumbai project on Instagram. We discuss the response to our previous episode on Orientalism in travel photography, and Ali tells us about the ‘Rooftop campaign’ that demands National Geographic apologise for endorsing a ‘racist and dehumanising’ photo. Chirag talks about the problematic nature of ‘Steve McCurry’s India’ and the ways in which photography is a tool of privilege within an Indian context, that often results in the ‘othering’ of the lower classes. Omar discusses the negative impact of ‘voluntourism’, a growing sector that is often linked to the ‘white saviour’ complex. Lastly, we talk about ways in which we can be proactive by supporting ‘local’ photographers.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE
- Reaction to first podcast episode on this topic: Orientalism & Modern Travel Photography: consent, identity & ‘othering’ in the Instagram age
- The ‘Rooftop Campaign’ – demanding National Geographic respond to the criticism regarding the ‘Rooftop Dreams’ photo that they endorsed (they have since amended the caption to the photo following criticism by Afaq Ali).
- Formerly colonised peoples and the way they are ‘conditioned’ to view themselves
- Institutions such as Nat Geo and Pulitzer and their role in the conditioning
- Targeting institutions rather than individual photographers
- The link between Orientalist photography and ‘volun-tourism’ and the negative impact it can have
- Things we can do to be proactive; Reclaim The Narrative campaign
- Importance of supporting non-Western photographers
- World Press Photo – every nominated photo taken in Africa was shot by a white photographer
- The need for self-reflection; how many of us unwittingly reinforce the same reductionist Orientalist tropes in our content
- Lack of representation at an institutional level; need for decolonisation
- Steve McCurry – his problematic portrayal of India
- Photography as an instrument of privilege in India, and the portrayal of the lower classes as the ‘other’
- Nat Geo not allowing photographers from certain countries to enter any of their competitions
PEOPLE/THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
- Alex from Lost With Purpose
- Comic Relief ‘white saviour’ controversy
- Voluntourism
- Radi-Aid’s ‘10 Questions to Consider When Using Images of People ‘
- ‘Voluntourism Will Continue To Be A Top Travel Trend In 2019‘
- ‘Annual $173 Billion Worth Of Volunteer Tourism Industry Is Enough To Make A Change‘
- “White Saviour”, Your Volunteer Trip to “Africa” Was More Beneficial To You Than To “Africa”
- Michael Aboya
- 20 African Photographers to Follow
- Michele Pearson Clarke
